A light wind took it upon itself to stroll on
through the balcony doors. It was a mischievous wind, making
knots in the bead strands framing the doorway and ruffling papers
on the desk. From his seat, Lord Kaz looked up, a slight frown
on his lips. He had an excellent view of his city; the quaint
little homes, the sprawling marketplace, and the ever-ongoing
wall that snaked around the city and kept it safe.

Shivering, Lord Kaz crossed the room to close the
doors. Far from the castle keep, the jagged peaks of Earbelet
stretched out like an endless set of claws. As he stared, losing
himself in things that were to come, he didn't hear the soft
steps of two children sneaking up behind him.

"Gotcha, Daddy!"

"Found you, Lord Kaz!"

"Whoa, this is a surprise!"

Lord Kaz gathered up the two children-a pretty girl with
mismatched eyes of blue and green and chestnut hair, and a boy
with eyes of gold and brown with sunshine hair. Swinging them
around until they all were dizzy, the three of them collapsed on
the bed in laughter.

"I could have sworn I put the two of you to bed? Hmm? Noel,
are you responsible for this?"

The girl shook her head, tossing her golden curls about.
"Nu-uh! It was Vilhelm's idea!"

Lord Kaz raised his eyebrows, smiling. "Oh ho? Well, now
what am I going to do? It's the middle of the night and I have
two hyper children who are wide awake."

"A story!" both children said in unison, "A story!"

Lord Kaz laughed. "Very well, then. What about, though?"

Vilhelm puffed out his chest. "A great monster who can make
the bad guys go away!"

Noel shrieked. "No! How about a knight who saves a
princess?"

Balking, Vilhelm gave Noel a light shove. "Ew, that's a
girly story!"

"Like yours is any better!"

"Ya-huh!"

Pulling them apart, Lord Kaz placed a kid on each knee.
"Alright, this story is about a great being who can make all the
bad people go away-"

"Hah!" Vilhelm stuck his tongue out at Noel.

"-but, he also saves the princess-"

"Hah, right back!" Noel stuck her tongue out.

"-Or the prince, whomever is in trouble. But, do you want to
know a secret?" Both children looked to Lord Kaz with wide eyes.
"This begin lives in this very castle. Far below the surface,
slumbering until the time is right to call him."

"Is he handsome and brave?" Noel asked. At her father's nod,
Noel shivered in excitement.

"How do you call it?"

But Lord Kaz shook his head. "You can only call him when you
know you're in danger, and that nothing else can save you." Lord
Kaz looked around, as if trying to see any eavesdroppers who
might be hiding about. "In the throne room, stand in the center
of the floor's emblem. Then, when the future looks bleak, close
your eyes and…"

~Eleven Years Later~

The sharp clang of steel brought Noel out of her
memories. Rolling to the side, she dodged the next slash which
landed right where her throat had been a scant second before.
Running, she dashed between two more soldiers who slashed for her
head.

"Get that bitch! Strike her dead if you have to,
just take her out!"

An arrow whizzed by Noel's ear, cutting a tiny slit
into her lobe. The small cut felt like her ear had been cut off,
but it didn't stop the young woman from reaching her destination:
the central throne room. Blood racing down her cheek, Noel
pressed on. Almost there!

The room was mostly left untarnished by the chaos and war
blustering around it, and it still had its door left intact.
Closing it, Noel threw down the steel beam that locked out the
bloodthirsty mod trailing her with weapons drawn. Not a moment
later did the resounding clang! clang! clang! of weapons
and the soldier's angry shouts against the door ring out.

Noel backed up, her heart beating madly in her throat
and her knees wobbly with a refusal to accept what was happening.
In the center of the room, she collapsed, breath ragged and
heaving.

"Why is this happening?" she cried to herself. She
clutched at the gold coin pendant around her neck. "Vilhelm,
where are you!"

And then…

Silence.

It was louder than any cannon fire or ripe crack of
magic in the air. What had happened? Were the men…gone?
Uneasy, the young woman rose. She took a step towards the door.
Before her disbelieving eyes, the heavy steel latch unbarred
itself and stood upright like a soldier at attention.

"V-Vilhelm?"

No response.

"Vilhelm! Is that you?"

A bark-like grunt was her reply-deep and coarse.
Noel knew that grunt, had heard it all of her life from watching
her father's soldier's train out in the fields. Until the
grunt's owner had been exiled to the icy wastes of Neuge: Kessler
Rosch, former Captain of the guard. And Noel's uncle. Within
the next second an alien sound rent the air and the thick steel
doors flew towards Noel, landing with a thunderous crash just
behind her in twisted, smoking heaps.

"Noel!"

In all honesty, the young woman didn't know whether
to run to Kessler, or to back away from him. She never knew what
he did to get exiled, but it must have been terrible. And, his
appearance here in the midst of an all-out massacre… In her
confusion, Noel stood there, silent.

"Noel, thank the heavens you're alright!" Kessler
rushed forward and took Noel into his arms, cradling her like his
own child. "You're bleeding. Dammit all!"

"Uncle Kessler," Noel said, "What are you doing
here?"

The look on Kessler's face was incredulous. "What?
Noel, now's not the time for this!" He grabbed his niece's upper
arm, making her wince. "You need to come with me! Hurry!"

Panic rooted her to the spot. Noel wrenched herself
free. "No!" For a brief moment, she saw a bitter anger flare in
Kessler's eyes. "I was told this was the only safe place when
something like this would happen."

"Gah, your father's stupid tales," Kessler snapped.
"No, what you need to do is leave this place before you get
killed!"

Noel narrowed her gaze. At the moment, it was too
quiet to be dangerous. "I don't think so, Uncle. It's strange;
you show up and everyone goes away. The fighting stops. And,
what did you do to those doors? No, I'm staying here and calling
the only thing that can really protect me."

She turned her back on him and proceeded to walk to
the room's center. Clenching his fist, Kessler reached for his
sword. Swinging it in a graceful arc, the man's eyes, once blue,
now gleamed with an insane two-toned hue of poison green.

"You've gone and made me angry, little Princess!
Fall, just like that wretched Prince did!"

Noel turned just in time to see the blade's tip zoom
straight for her throat. It splashed her life's blood across the
floor like grotesque blossoms. At least, that's what would have
happened had a massive…thing not appeared before the
girl just as the blade closed the gap. Noel heard the blade sink
deep into flesh and bone; the sound made her stomach turn. Too
nervous and stunned to look up, Noel only heard a voice.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" it exclaimed. It belonged to a
man, and it seemed to be mocking Kessler. "What do you think
you're doing with that thing! You might hurt someone."

Kessler growled, out of both shock and anger, but
mostly from shock. He tried in vain to free his blade, but a
black acidic substance oozed from the man's torso and began to
erode the blade. The hilt clattered to the floor while the
blade's tip jutted from the man like some horrific form of body
art.

"Well," the man shrugged. "Hurt someone
else, besides me."

"What the hell are you!"

Noel opened her eyes and saw nothing but a wall of blue-the man
who protected her was huge! From where she stood, she figured
she stood eye level with his ribcage. He towered over her by a
foot, at least! She looked up and saw soft locks of
light brown spilling down his back. Just then, the man looked
over his shoulder at her.

With a snap of his fingers, a strange portal opened within the
air and out jumped a number of soldiers and monstrous beasts.
The tower of a man crouched into a fighting stance, hands up and
ready to let them fly.

"Can you do anything to defend yourself, little miss?"

Though she knew he meant no offense at the honest question, Noel
felt hot in the face. Sadly, though, she had lost her sack while
escaping from the other soldiers. Shaking her head, the young
woman retreated to give the large man some room. She took cover
by the smoking forms that were once doors. Kessler snarled and
readied his sword. His men closed in on the man, halfway
encircling him with their array of separate weapons. Some had
swords, some had guns, and others had odd gloves that crackled
with deep hues of electricity. The beasts, on the other hand,
made their way towards Noel. Their chaotic forms and jagged
mouths would have given demons nightmares. Clouds of sickly
black escaped from their nostrils as they charged.

The large man gave a toothy grin as he spun towards them. "I
prefer it this way, anyway. Come on!"

With a single thrust of his flattened hand, he cut two beasts in
twain. Blood sprayed the air as they turned to black mist.
Turning, the man cast a quick glance just in time to catch the
tail of another beast that had leapt over him in hopes of sinking
its teeth into Noel. All the force of a lightning strike went
into the man's punch; the beast crackled and exploded into the
same mist the others did.

All the while, Kessler's men stood like stones, rendered dumb by
what they saw: in the blink of an eye the man had destroyed three
hellfiends with his bare hands! Upon seeing that same killing
machine now charge them with a bloodlust glint in his eyes, half
the men turned tail and ran, their still-clenched weapons all but
forgotten.

"Bloody cowards! You three, take him!"

"Sir!"

The remaining three men fanned out and circled the giant. One
soldier-a woman adorned in reddish armor-slashed, cutting deep
into her target's left arm. Another-this one a tall, lean man
clad in black-pulled his trigger, loosing a bluish spray of
sparks and lead. The last-a man protected by a silver
breastplate over deep green fatigues-closed in on the right, his
gloves crackling with a mad shower of purple flashes that formed
into fire and coated his arm.

In the next instant, the tower of a man seemed to be
overwhelmed and screamed out. Thinking he had won, Kessler
smiled. But it quickly turned into a snarl. The man, using some
unseen power, blew the soldiers off. They flew in three
different directions and their forms lay still amongst the
rubble.

"Son of a bitch," Kessler hissed under his breath.

Kessler was the only one standing now, and he knew for certain he
couldn't take on that massive beast on his own. Judging by the
other man's grin, he knew Kessler was quick work as well. And
yet, the towering man saw something odd about the soldier before
him; the way his eyes seemed to be there but not at the same
time. Before he realized what was going on, Kessler vanished at
the exact same time that Noel shrieked.

"Get away!"

The larger man whirled around. As Noel saw his eyes
narrow in anger, the young found herself restricted and a sharp
pang at her throat.

"I dare you," she said to Kessler, tone cold as ice.
"Kill me and condemn this entire world to hell."

But her uncle laughed. So much that his entire body
shook, forcing the blade to create a thin red line across the
girl's throat.

"It won't go to hell. I'll be saving this world!
And you'll just be the first step!"

Kessler moved his blade and began to draw it across
Noel's pale neck.

"No!"

"Hellfiend begone!"

In through the doors charged two men, each clad in
midnight and moonshine armor. Each had a hand extended and
pillars of fire erupted beneath Kessler's feet, throwing him back
and saving Noel's life-but not before creating a small wound that
would most likely scar. The two strangers took a place on either
side of the towering man; though tall themselves, he still
dwarfed them.

"Retrieve her, Gyula!" demanded the blonde knight.

Annoyed by the command, the brunette replied, "I'm
already on it!" To staunch the feeble flow of blood, Gyula tore
part of his coat's hem and tied it around the woman's throat.
All the while, he never saw the smoking form rise back to its
feet.

"I WILL SEE HER DEAD IF IT KILLS ME!" Kessler
abandoned his sword and growled deep; it was sound no human could
ever hope to make. "AND I'M TAKING YOU ALL ALONG FOR THE RIDE!"

His face half gone from the fire, Kessler held his
hand to cover his deformity. With his other, he threw a shroud
of black mist around the four-Gyula, Noel, and the twin
strangers. Madness making up for lack of other resources, the
soldier ran for the throne room's balcony. And though they
fought against it with all their combined strength, the black
mist hauled Noel and the others along like they were limp
ragdolls.

"Brother, together!"

"Right!"

A sudden flash blinded Gyula and Noel. Sounds of
tearing cloth and shattering glass deafened their ears. And a
vile scream cursing them to hell was all that echoed within their
minds. When sight and sound returned, they found themselves
stopped. Instead of falling to the chaos of civil war below, the
pair found themselves hovering in midair. Gyula seemed fine with
the predicament, but Noel shrieked, fighting against the
black-haired knight who held her close. Six wings jutted from
his back-his brother's, as well-each one an opalescent hue, like
crystals.

"Shanoa!" she shrieked, panic-stricken. "Put me
down! Put me down!"

Yet Noel immediately rethought her words as the man's grip
loosened and she found herself dangling two hundred feet in the
air. She clambered back up into his arms, eventually settling by
being held like a newlywed bride. Her face flushed and she could
see a tiny splash of pink on her holder's cheeks as well.

"We are not Shanoa," the man stammered. "You can
rest your fears. We are here to help you."

"Yeah," Gyula sneered to the blonde. "Seven hundred
years is a little long to wait, though, isn't it?"

The knight remained silent. Flicking his head, he
and his brother took off. To the warring individuals below, they
appeared to be invisible. Noel could see Kessler's bloodied form
on the ground below, encircled by a number of his soldiers who
weren't killing innocents. Their eyes combed the skies but
didn't appear to see the four people flying in what the woman
supposed was plain sight.

"We are invisible," the black-haired man confirmed.
"But it won't last long."

"Gyula, you're heavy," complained the blonde.

The brunette scoffed. "I can't fly! It's not like I
can carry you!"

Mouth curling into a grimace, the blonde murmured,
"That's not what I meant."

As the two winged men flew beyond the walls of the
kingdom, they settled down within the thicket of the surrounding
Earbelet Mountains. Gyula placed himself immediately at Noel's
side. Just in time, too, as she lost her will to keep standing.
Silent tears ran down her cheeks, platting on the ground and
creating tiny darkened spots.

"How did you know?" she stammered. "Who are you
two?" Looking to Gyula, she asked him the same thing. But he
just scratched the back of his head, seeming unable to come out
with a proper response.

"'Majesty'?" Gyula questioned. He looked to the
young woman's face; she had pretty golden eyes, one noticeably a
darker shade than the other even with the slightest of glances.
His own gaze went back to the knights. "What are you talking
about? She's a Guardian."

The knights looked to one another. "She
looks it, yes," replied the dark-haired man. "But, we
can say no more without risking further damage here. We need to
get back."

Gyula raised an eyebrow. "You two need to jump
again?"

The knights nodded. "We've overstayed our welcome
here."

Unable to take them avoiding her question any longer,
the young woman pushed away and gave the trio a stern and serious
look.

"I appreciate what you all have done for me, but… I
need to go back. I need to find-"

"He won't be there, Majesty," hummed the blonde
knight.

Noel stared. Of all the nerve; who did that guy think he was?
For once that day, Noel decided to go against the words of
strangers. She turned on her heel and began to walk. Acting on
strange advice had already gotten her in trouble-had gotten her
home blown away, in fact! And countless people slain… The lady
shook her head as she went. Head down, eyes to the ground, Noel
never saw the dark knight appear in front of her from his spot
more than twenty feet away. Noel walked right into him-though,
it felt more like colliding with a steel wall than a man. A man
who could sprout wings…

"What do you want from me!" she demanded, shoving him back a
step.

"For you to listen to us instead of to your heart.
We can't let you go back."

"Just try and stop me," the girl spat back. Since
these guys wouldn't respond well enough to kindness, the lady
decided to get rough and volatile. Her home was in danger, and
she had to find the one person who could help make things right.
Meaning to push past the knight and continue on her way, the
young woman stopped dead in her tracks. Looking back with a
fright, she stared wide-eyed at the knight. "What did you say?"

An uncomfortable silence hung in the air. None
seemed willing to break it for fear of repercussions. Yet Noel
found what she had heard to be too ludicrous to accept as the
truth.

"You're joking," managed to slip out of her mouth.
She wanted so very much to believe in those words, but as she
looked at the bloodied coin the blonde knight withdrew from his
pocket, Noel screamed.

"We are sorry, Noel," the dark knight began.

"No! You're lying! I don't believe you!"

"You must!"

"Why? Why should I?" the young lady screamed, biting
back far harsher remarks and a river of tears that fought back
with the strength of the ocean.

Everything was crashing onto her psyche at that moment-her
father's death, the raid, the villagers' deaths, Kessler's
betrayal. And now this…this mess that was obviously just a
failed joke about the only man who could help her.

"I have no reason to trust you! None of you! For all I know,
that could just be some vile attempt to steer me into harm's
way!"

Gyula approached to console the girl but she shoved
his hand away. Looking like he had been rejected for something
far more important, the man stood there. The other knight
approached.

"Please, Majesty," he begged. "Just trust us and do
as we say."

"Then tell me who you are! I don't have any reason to trust you
unless you tell me something, at least!"

The blonde quirked his bottom lip. He looked to his brother.
"Isn't there anything we can do?"

The dark knight shook his head. "There were no specifics. We
must do what must be done."

"I…guess it won't do any more harm than we've already done, eh?"

The dark-haired man gave a disgruntled sigh. "I hope
not." He reached up and removed his helmet, his brother
mimicking the action.

The second the fading sunlight filled the dark
knight's shadowed form with color, Noel felt like her soul had
been crushed beneath the very mountains themselves. The man
boasted a beautiful but fire-scarred face, and emerald eyes that
swam with shadows of dark things never to be spoken of.

Standing before her was the very man she personally held
responsible for the war that had destroyed her home.

Launching herself forward, Noel intended to rip
Cael's throat out. But a strong grip seizing her wrists halted
any thought of such violence. She wriggled like a worm on a hook
against Gyula, regardless of the fact she knew she couldn't get
free. So, instead, she slumped to the ground, sobbing. Her
hopes of the joke washed away in her tears; she knew it wasn't a
lie now. And though the man she claimed to be Cael didn't deny
the accusation, he didn't confirm it either.

"I was him," he began. "And, for the next year, I
will still be him. But now, my name is Viktor. I am Cael's
past, and his future."

Noel choked as the man she had called Cael placed the
bloodied coin into her shaking hands. His words registered, but
they were far outweighed by the grief filling her heart. The
coin was small and etched with tribal designs native to the
Su'tehk warriors of the east. It had matched the one dangling
around her own neck; a matching birthday gift for her and her
betrothed back when they were just children.

"I did kill him, Noel," Viktor replied. "I am
sorry." However emotionless his tone had been, that simple
phrase carried with it tomes of sympathy. Enough that Noel
swallowed her sorrow and rose to her feet.

"I think I understand, now," she said. Her eyes were
distant, but her mind was still very much there. "You two are
time travelers. I have no right to be mad at you. But…" She
searched within for the proper way to voice her thoughts. "But
why is this happening? I can't believe it."

"Believe it, alright," replied the blonde. "I'm
Xander, by the way." Small scars lined his young and handsome
face, surrounded by a matching patch of burned flesh that snaked
from his cheek up to his forehead. His was the face of a
well-travelled warrior. And its physical features, aside from
the eyes, were shared with Viktor; they were twins.

"I'm lost in the dark, too," Gyula chirped, "But these two know
what they're talking about. And for the record, they're the ones
who sealed me away at the end of the Loita Raza."

Noel repeated Gyula's last two words with a childlike fragility
in her voice. Her eyes then rolled up in her head and she fell
to the ground, unconscious. In the background, the sounds of
gunfire and magic waged on, lessened only a little from when Noel
was within the castle. Viktor and Xander returned their helmets
and snapped the visors up for a moment.

"I think that was a little too much for her, Gyula," Xander
mused.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I figured I should tell her now when
she's kinda out of it, you know?"

"Crude but effective," Viktor replied.

"Do you have a plan?"

Gyula stared, but then grinned. "Not a clue. If she's not a
Guardian, then hers is out there somewhere and they need to be
found." He gathered Noel up and cradled like a mother would a
slumbering infant. "Just tell me name and I'll go from there."

At the silence he received, Gyula became suspicious. Reality
then dawned. "Oh no, it wasn't… Was it?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Damn…"

"Bhujerda," Viktor replied. "Two weeks ago. This girl truly is
the last hope for this world. She's all alone."

Gyula grimaced. Gritting his teeth, he gave Noel's pretty face a
hard look. Pale skin, pink cheeks and lips… She was just a
child. Yet, when he had looked into those golden eyes not even
moments ago, they swam with the knowledge and sacrifice of a
Sage. This girl had already had a hard life, and now this was
being thrown at her? No. Gyula wouldn't stand for an
explanation like that! Not in a million years.

"I don't buy it," he whispered down to her. "You're not alone."

"Hm?" Viktor looked up.

"I said I don't buy it," the brunette repeated. His casual tone
from before turned dark, stoic. "She isn't alone. She's got me
to keep her safe. Hell, if not for her calling me, I'd still be
trapped in that damn stone."

Xander shook his head. He took a step towards the towering man.
"Don't speak like that, you idiot."

At the glare he received, the blonde stepped back to his previous
spot. Those blue eyes glowered with a hateful resolve.

"Don't you tell me what to do," Gyula hissed. "I've been
called-BY her-to keep her safe when nothing else could! This can
only mean one thing."

"Gyula! Enough!"

"I'll become her Guardian in the other's stead. I'll keep her
safe and make sure her journey is completed!"

His warnings proving useless, all Xander could do now was watch
as a bright flash surrounded the left wrists of both Gyula and
Noel. Within seconds the light dimmed, replaced by three thin
bands, each glowing a pale blue. The bands spun faster and
faster, until the blue light bathed both of their bodies
completely. When it faded, a black mark resembling two crossed
squares had been branded onto the pair's forearms.

"Dammit," Viktor cursed. "This will complicate things."

Gyula looked the mark over, not fully believing it to be real.
Picking Noel's slender arm up, he looked her mark over as well.
They matched. In his eyes now rested a fierce determination, an
unwavering will to do what he had said he would. But, he met the
angered looks of the twin knights. Towering over them though he
did, he felt quite small at that moment. He squared his
shoulders.

"I'll keep her safe," he repeated. "Trust me. Her knight will
always be by her side. I promise. Besides," he added,
smirking. "If not, you two will be the first to know, won't
you?"

Viktor was silent; Xander, however, smiled. "Do what you can.
You just changed the future. Head northeast from here."

"Xander!"

"What! He just screwed everything up, so telling him where to
start can't hurt anything!"

"Hey, argue with yourselves on your own time. You have control
over it all, don't you? This thing is a ticking time bomb,"
Gyula remarked about his and Noel's new pact symbols. "Take care
of yourselves. Be seeing you."

Without a word more, the tower of a man turned and
began his perilous trek into the snow-covered peaks. His
destination was unknown, but he would head in the direction the
brothers had said. Silent as death, Viktor and Xander watched
him leave. As Gyula vanished within the thicket, three streaks
of white carved their ways across the darkening sky. The twins
looked to one another.

"And so," Xander chuckled, "It begins. With one or
two things changed up a little bit."

"Indeed," Viktor sighed. "Thanks to your big mouth."

"Hey. You gotta love me, though."

Viktor remained silent. Snapping his fingers, a rift
opened in midair in between the siblings. Wasting no time, they
both entered and were gone without a sound.